"The basic fundamental premise that I have  about improving West Louisville is that I don't believe that there are outside forces and outside resources that are going to come and save us, inside West Louisville. I think the solutions to improve West Louisville are ultimately going to come from the people who live in West Louisville. And so, I think it's counterproductive for us to continue to put so much energy into pursuing people, resources, agencies, businesses, leaders, from outside of this community, with hopes of them bringing those resources and ideas back to this community, don't improve it. I think that the solutions that we seek are right here, in our own backyard. I think that rolling up our sleeves and being committed to those solutions and being committed to being apart of those solutions has to be where we start. I think that we start by embracing that fundamental premise, then we get ourselves so much further down the road. I watch so many of us seek outside resources to fix things that I just don't believe will be addressed by people, from outside of this community. I just don't think it'll happen. That's the 30,000 ft level. The more granular level is this notion of us getting out of our homes. We are guilty of it, in West Louisville, just like many other people around this community, in large. We go into our households and we close the doors and watch television, and engage with our own families. We go out, we don't look people in the eye, we don't shake hands, we don't talk. We don't do any of those things. We don't function as neighbors, anymore. I sincerely believe that the solutions that we seek are going to come from us breaking those silos that we live in and doing more to support one another.  So, when I think about all of these murders in our communities and these young boys killing other young boys, these are people, by in large, that don't have fathers in their lives and don't have parents that are highly engaged. I think that solutions to helping them improve their lives are going to come from people who complain when they sit down on their couches and watch the news and say that somebody has to do something. Well, they are the somebodies that have to do something! If we don't find ways to inspire people to get off the couches, to come outside of their homes, to adopt some young person, then these problems will persist." - Devone, Parkland